


how it all went wrong (and what went right)

by hellevator_mp3



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, also some mentions of death!, and if they do, but i promise that none of the members will die, but i'm not worried about it rn, so i'll update tags as i go!, there might be other stuff to tag??, there will be some gore, they won't be gone forever, uhhh as expected from a zombie au, uhhh let's see what else
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-02-16 17:52:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18696397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellevator_mp3/pseuds/hellevator_mp3
Summary: it’s hard to forget where you were when tragedy struck, even after years pass.when it started, san was cuddled up in bed with his fiance wooyoung, running gentle fingers over his arm as sirens blared outside their window and screams filled the streets.when it started, yeosang was at his favorite department store, browsing the racks one minute, and locked in the manager’s office the next.  his savior, a boy in red by the name of seonghwa, told him that he was mere feet away from the undead.when it started, best friends yunho and mingi found themselves leaning over the railing on the roof of their apartment building, watching as the undead and the still living flooded the streets.when it started, jongho was alone in his room, waiting for his english tutor to show up.  the front door slammed open in sync with the sirens beginning, his tutor, hongjoong, rushing into his room and yelling “we need to get out of here”.they remember where they were when it started.  will they be able to find out where they’ll be when it ends?





	1. how about we not wipe out human kind, and say we did

even at night, the city of seoul was almost always bustling with people. whether they were just getting off work, or just going to work, just going shopping or coming home from a night of drinking, there were always people lining the streets. bars would be open, music blasting onto the streets every time the front door opened. businesses would have their lights on, workers dozing off behind desks and counters as they worked the midnight shift. corner stores were always open, their bright signs flashing “open!” at anyone who happened to pass by. 

however, yeosang had never seen the seoul streets this empty and quiet. then again, he had never walked home in the dead of night with a machete clutched in one hand, and a stranger’s hand in the other. he had also never faced death in the face of the undead, but it turns out that there’s a first time for everything. 

it had been peaceful, the late night crowds in the underground mall slowly dissipating as yeosang leisurely browsed the racks of his favorite department store at a quarter to midnight, just a few hours before the store would close. he had been in the underground mall for hours at this point, but had come out of nearly every store empty-handed, but he swore that that wouldn’t be the case with this one. although the mall was clearing out, there was still loud chatter in the hallways that enveloped the building. he assumed that the shrieks fading into the distance were due to a celebrity or something showing up, and continued on his search for new clothing. because his paycheck had been rather large this time around and he had money to spare, he decided to treat himself for once. he had an armful of clothes, and was just turning around to check out when a voice shouted “look out” not even a foot away from him, and he turned to see a person. but no, it wasn’t just any person. it was someone wearing the store’s uniform, presumably once an employee, but judging by the chunk of flesh missing from their neck, the sickly color of their skin, and the blood that stained their shirt, it could be assumed that they were no longer alive enough to be employed. 

there was a tug on his wrist, and he watched the person - zombie? undead? - lurch dangerously close to where he was just standing. he was pulled back into a solid chest at the same time as a wooden pole appeared in the corner of his eye, smacking the undead on the side of the head, causing it to lose balance and tumble to the floor, which bought them just enough time to bolt for the manager's office. they were lucky, yeosang thought, at the metal door swung open with ease and soon clicked closed behind them. there was a small window up near the top of the door, which they watched through as the undead seemed to lose sight of them and wandered off. for a brief moment, yeosang compared the being to a baby, considering that it seemed to have the same concept of object permanence as one. he shook his head at the thought, watching the being stumble between the racks and out the front of the shop, presumably to look for another victim. a loud sigh of relief made reminded him of the other presence in the room, a bleach blond boy slumping against the wall next to the door. yeosang remained standing and studied him curiously, eyes raking over the unfamiliar face for a second before the boy looked up and they made eye contact -- and suddenly yeosang couldn’t look away. piercing, almost ashy green eyes held his gaze, the color unnatural but suiting the stranger. the firetruck red hoodie that covered his upper half was striking against his hair, the combo obviously very carefully put together to attract attention. the two sat in silence for a few moments, just studying one another, before the stranger was hauling himself back to his feet with the help of the wooden pole still clutched in his hand. his free hand was soon extended to yeosang, and he was introducing himself as seonghwa. 

yeosang soon learned that the country was in a state of emergency. some sort of scientific outbreak had occurred, and soon, people were dying and coming back to life, but only halfway, resulting in beings like the one they had just seen. seonghwa informed him that the mall was crawling with them, but that it would be good for them to get out as soon as possible. yeosang nodded in response, before suggesting that the two of them stick together and go back to yeosang’s apartment, where they would likely be safer than out in the open. seonghwa readily agreed, and soon they were setting out. just before they left the store, however, yeosang headed to the back and grabbed one of the biggest backpacks he could find, and shoved some of the more useful clothes that he was planning on buying into it. after looking around and making sure the store was clear, he ordered seonghwa to go find either a leather jacket or a denim one. his only reply to the confused look he got was a deadpan one in return. “denim and leather are hard to bite through, and these things are humans, with human teeth.” he quietly informed him, getting an understanding nod in return. they split up but stayed within a few feet of one another, as yeosang shoved his arms through the sleeves of a denim jacket, and tossed a leather one into the backpack. just a few rows over, he saw seonghwa doing the same. he hissed that they needed to hurry, and the other nodded, before they joined up to exit the store.  
they were lucky, somehow managing to make it to a camping supply store without seeing a single undead. they ducked inside, splitting up to find supplies to take home, since yeosang had mentioned that he didn’t have a lot of things that they would need. he figured that if the world ever sorted itself out, he’d keep a tally of what they stole - borrowed - and pay for it when everything was right again. seonghwa came back with his own bag, full of things that they would need if the electricity went out, or they ran out of food, and supplies to purify water if they needed to. yeosang was in the middle of unboxing a pocket knife, which he then used to cut the packaging on a machete. the pocket knife was stuffed into his jacket pocket, and seonghwa shoved another packaged machete into his bag before saying they needed to leave. 

as they were navigating their way out of the mall, yeosang suddenly pulled seonghwa into a beauty supply store. seonghwa went to question him, but yeosang just pulled him to the side of the door into a small cubby-like space, pressing the two of them together and pressing a finger to his lips. they heard stumbling footsteps over the sound of their breathing, followed by a short moan that quickly dissipated as the figure passed. yeosang checked quickly to make sure it had passed, before venturing further into the store and gesturing for seonghwa to follow him. it wasn’t long before they stumbled across one of the undead at the back of the store, where yeosang was pulling down a box what appeared to be the same dye he used to achieve the blush colored hair he currently sported, as well as one that seonghwa assumed was his natural - or as close to natural as he could get - hair color to cover it up with. after the undead was taken care of and the dyes were in yeosang’s backpack, and he had finally convinced seonghwa to grab what he needed to maintain his own platinum blond hair (“it looks good on you! you have to keep it!” yeosang had rambled on excitedly at the prospect of helping seonghwa with his hair), the two continued to make their way out, the contents of their bags rattling slightly with every step. seonghwa cursed as they had to take out another undead before finally hitting the escalators, which hadn’t shut off just yet. they rode in silence, standing as close to each other as they could and watching each other’s back. 

the sirens that blared got louder and louder the closer they got to the surface, and yeosang idly wondered why he couldn’t hear even a hint of them while he was in the store. when they finally got out of the mall, they found the streets empty and near void of life. the moans of the undead could be heard from where they were, so they decided to speed up their pace, even just a little bit. just a few blocks from yeosang’s apartment building, they were just passing by a supermarket when seonghwa pulled them inside, pulling the same maneuver as yeosang had just a few hours before, at the sight of a zombie about a mile away. he shushed yeosang quickly, keeping an eye out for the undead to pass them by. they were lucky it hadn’t noticed the automatic doors that had slid open at their appearance, and remained open as they stood next to it. 

yeosang finally breathed a sigh of relief as seonghwa finally pulled himself away, before looking around, trying to ignore the flush on his cheeks from their proximity. sure, it was okay when yeosang had done it to seonghwa, but the other way around had a feeling bubbling up in yeosang’s stomach that he didn’t like. the building seemed quiet, and the two of them exchanged glances. “should we grab a cart or two and take some of this back to your place? before somebody else raids it?” seonghwa suggested quietly, eying the carts just past the door to their right. yeosang shrugged, agreeing that it might be a good idea.  
since it was the dead of night and the country was considered under a state of emergency, it was assumed that most people would be holed up inside their apartments and houses under morning, at the very least. with a nod, they grabbed two of the shopping carts and started walking up and down the aisles. seonghwa stocked his full of bottled water, checking it often to make sure that it wasn’t too heavy to push down the street and to get into an elevator. yeosang’s was soon full of canned goods and other things that wouldn’t spoil quickly, along with little things for them to snack on in the meantime, things that they may not be able to enjoy for long. he also stocked up on various vitamins, telling seonghwa that having a stronger immune system may help them in the long run. seonghwa nodded in agreement, before also throwing bottles of shampoo into yeosang’s cart, “just in case”, he said. just as their quiet ‘shopping trip’ was coming to an end, they heard the automatic doors open and froze in their spot. footsteps echoed around the store, but there wasn’t a moan to be heard - therefore, it had to be somebody alive that was inhabiting the store with them. yeosang and seonghwa were soon back to back, wielding their respective weapons as they watched either end of the aisle with bated breath, waiting for either friend or foe to pop out. 

a silver haired boy, and a black haired boy with red highlights appeared from behind the endcap, one of them holding a hand basket while the other wielded a kitchen knife. with his free hand, seonghwa, who was facing the two boys, tapped yeosang’s upper thigh to signal for him to turn around. the two groups finally took notice of one another, the silver haired boy nearly shrieking in surprise. the black haired boy quickly covered his mouth, shushing him quietly. “we’re not here to hurt you or raid you, we’re just trying to stock up before everyone else does. we can’t get back into our apartment, our building is surrounded in the undead and they’re walking the hallways, too, so this is our only shot.” the black haired boy explained quickly and quietly, letting his hand drop from the other boy’s mouth, and letting it drop to intertwine with the other’s. before yeosang could reply, seonghwa had already blurted out that they could follow them to yeosang’s apartment, and they could figure it out in the morning. the two boys exchanged glances, while yeosang was sputtering indignantly, yanking seonghwa to the end of the aisle and out of sight for a minute, completely disregarding their carts. 

seonghwa raised an eyebrow, and yeosang took a deep breath before finally speaking a proper sentence. “you can't just invite people into my home!” he hissed, trying to make sure the others couldn't hear him. seonghwa sent him a deadpan look, before gesturing down to himself. at the realization that he was being slightly hypocritical, yeosang sighed, a hand drifting up and fingers rubbing at his temples. “it's different with you. you saved me, and i owe you.” he whispered, eyes closing as he tried to distract himself. why exactly did he so willingly offer up his home to a stranger?

the answer came to him in the form of the butterflies that reeled in his stomach when seonghwa grabbed his hand with one of his own, pulling it away from his face at the same time that his free hand reached out to cup yeosang’s chin and make him face the other. “then let them stay with us, and we'll be even. tomorrow, when they leave, it'll just be us again and we'll be fine.” seonghwa tried to soothe him, rubbing his thumb over yeosang’s cheek, who leaned into the touch.  
it took a second for yeosang to relent, nodding into seonghwa’s palm. he heard the other laugh, and allowed himself to be pulled closer into a tight embrace before they headed back to the other two, acting as though nothing had happened. the two boys watched them nervously, the silver haired boy fiddling with his fiance's fingers to distract himself. 

“if you get a cart and help us stock up, you can come home with us.” yeosang relayed to them quickly, and the two rushed off to get a cart, only after introducing themselves. the black haired boy was san, and the silver-haired boy was his fiance, wooyoung. it turned out that they lived just a block or two away from yeosang, thankfully far enough that they didn’t worry about seeing the undead that flocked their building. it wasn’t until nearly an hour later that they found themselves standing in front of yeosang’s apartment building. they had to abandon their carts several times during the walk home, hiding in doorways and behind pillars until the threat had passed, somehow managing to make it back in one piece. yeosang was the first to go up, taking the elevator to his floor and checking to make sure that it was clear before riding back down and guiding the rest up to his apartment. soon enough, they had managed to fit the three carts in the doorway, and were unpacking the supplies. “we need to find some way to board up the windows, just in case.” yeosang piped up from the kitchen, where he was stacking canned food in the cabinets. even though they were on the third floor, there was still a possibility of something - or someone - getting in through the window. 

“and we should figure out how to rig up the hallway so nothing else can get down here.” san replied from the small dining room, where he was pushing the carts together near the window and going to join yeosang in the kitchen. wooyoung and seonghwa were quietly conversing as they unpacked the other supplies that seonghwa and yeosang had collected, as well as some little things that they managed to save from their apartment. soon enough, the four of them were gathered in the living room, where they quickly whipped up a list of things that they still needed, which included, but wasn’t limited to: sleeping bags, maybe air mattresses if they were lucky, along with other things like more matches and candles, batteries, a radio, and a few other things. they made themselves comfortable, yeosang pulling a blanket down from his closet for san and wooyoung, who had taken refuge on the couch. seonghwa had already said that he would be sleeping on the floor next to yeosang’s bed, “for safety reasons”. yeosang had rolled his eyes, a bright flush painting his cheeks as he pushed seonghwa away. moonlight still flooded in through the windows, signaling to them that sunrise was still a few hours away, and they had time to catch a little bit of shut-eye before it was time to figure out a plan. 

yeosang woke sometime a little bit later with a racing heart and a scream hovering in the back of his throat, one that he barely managed to hold back. it seemed that either he had already made noise in his sleep, or seonghwa was just that light of a sleeper, considering that the other sat up quickly and glanced around, eyes falling on yeosang’s shiver ridden form. with a small noise, he crawled into bed next to yeosang, pulled the boy to his chest and soothing the boy with gentle strokes of his hands over his hair and back. seonghwa smiled as the boy melted into his chest, and found himself falling asleep again with yeosang’s fingers wrapped in his shirt. 

san and wooyoung slept peacefully in the living room, wooyoung pressed into the back of the sofa. it was a good arrangement, considering that wooyoung got cold easily in the night, and san too hot. 

silence once again draped over the apartment like a blanket as the people inside finally all fell into a deep sleep, to ease the tired they felt in their bones. 

they were woken just a few hours later at the sound of frantic pounding on the door and screams for help.


	2. was solitude really the only logical ending? yeosang still doesn't know

they were lucky for the setup of yeosang’s apartment, they very quickly realized. they had pulled all the curtains shut, including the ones in the kitchen right next to the front door (yeosang still didn't understand the need for a window overlooking the hallway but whatever) and both windows in the dining room and bedroom. wooyoung and san had already crawled off the couch, and crept quietly over to their weapons before seonghwa and yeosang had even emerged from the room. the banging and shouting only grew louder, the noise beginning to sound like panicked screams but yeosang knew they really couldn't trust anyone. 

it wasn't until everyone had a weapon of some sort that they crept to the door, yeosang peeking through the peekhole at whoever was outside. there were two figures stood side by side, their figures distorted through the window, but yeosang saw no weapons, and he said such to seonghwa. seonghwa shrugged and mouthed “let them in”, to which yeosang sighed. of course he would say that. 

that must have been quite a shock for them, hearing the lock turn to an apartment and then stumbling in to find that there were four people inside, all wielding weapons. but the two took it in a stride, one turning to close and lock the door as the other explained their situation. 

they were roommates, the brown haired man being mingi and the black haired man being yunho. since they lived in a worse part of town that yeosang himself did, their apartment building was one of the first raided when the sun rose. they could hear the doors being busted down above and below them, and soon enough it was the one at the end of the hall. then the middle one. and then the one right next to them. they had just bolted through their living room window onto the fire escape when the door was busted down, dust flying through the air and settling softly around the figure that stood in their doorway. mingi froze, and yunho pushed him to start climbing down with a shout of “go!” before they were rushing down the metal stairs to the sound of the figure screaming - whether it was into a walkie talkie or to an accomplice, they’d never know. 

when they hit the ground and started running, they could hear footsteps behind them and glanced back to see that somebody had run from the lobby after them. presumably, it was another member of the group that was raiding their building, but they weren’t sure. friend or foe, they ran until they lost him, dodging through alleys that they knew like the back of their hands and past the undead that reached out to touch them. somehow, the person that broke down their door emerged from the shadows, and they bolted once again, and so they ended up at yeosang’s door, knocking with the ferocity of a thousand beasts as they heard his thunderous steps up the stairs. 

yeosang simply stared at them, before his mind went into overdrive. “so you’re saying, you led a big, beefy man to my apartment and now we’re all stuck in here?” he seethed, mingi and yunho both seeming to shrink as they took in his anger. “god, you’re so lucky this floor is nearly abandoned.” he mumbled, anger melting away as seonghwa laid a soft hand on his shoulder, whispering something to yeosang that calmed him down. the two newcomers stood in the doorway, still confused. wooyoung and san had retreated back to the couch, where they sat watching just in case something happened, although they doubted that the two tall men posed a threat. 

yeosang finally sighed, moving aside to allow the other two in. “i swear to all that is holy that if somebody tries to break into my apartment, i will sacrifice you two.” he muttered to the taller boys as he guided them to the living room. the two nodded. “see, i don’t even know how you guys got here. nobody’s lived on this floor for years, aside from me. the door from the stairs doesn’t open, and half the elevator buttons don’t work, but the one for this floor is particularly iffy.” he shrugged, figuring that they were pretty safe. then, he noticed the bags that the two had slung over their shoulders, and gestured towards them. mingi seemed to understand quickly what he wanted. 

“we don't have any weapons, all we have is some food, a little bit of water and some matches. i think yunho has sleeping bags.” mingi informed them, pulling his bag off to show them as yunho did the same. yeosang passed them to seonghwa to check, and he confirmed what they said. “we probably won't last very long with what we have, but as soon as they leave, we’ll leave too and we won’t bother you.” he promised them not even a heartbeat later, gesturing wildly as he tried to prove his point. however, at the sound of footsteps on the floor above them, the entire group went quiet. san went to check that the windows on the backside of the apartment were locked, and the shades pulled closed before he returned to wooyoung’s side, their fingers clasped tightly in between them while their other hands held tightly to their newfound weapons. seonghwa and yeosang took up a protective stance in front of the others, their hips pressed together as one stared at the window and the other at the door, waiting for something to drop in. 

they stayed like that for what must have been close to an hour, listening to the footsteps that traipsed around the rooms above them, likely raiding the apartment. yeosang wracked his memory, trying to think of who lived above him but drew a blank. finally, they were able to relax as the footsteps faded away, and they could faintly hear noise travelling down the staircase. yeosang breathed out a sigh of relief, throwing himself down on the floor next to wooyoung and san, who had sat on the side of the coffee table closest to yeosang’s bedroom. the group of six glanced at one another, while mingi and yunho got to their feet. “we’ll just take the fire escape out, and we’ll be out of your hair.” yunho reiterated mingi’s words from earlier, his voice considerably higher than that of his counterpart. yeosang sighed, before informing him that they didn’t have a fire escape. yunho gaped at him, and then shrugged before saying they would just take the elevator back down. 

wooyoung and san both stood up with a start, glancing over at yeosang and seonghwa to say that they should probably get a move on too, since they were only meant to stay for the night. yeosang glanced at seonghwa, who nodded and went to pack them up a bag with food and water, and as much of their supplies as they could spare, pressing the bag into a protesting san’s hands. seonghwa shushed him quickly, before the group of four was finally leaving the apartment, yeosang locking the door behind them. he had pulled wooyoung aside for a brief second, to tell him that if they needed anything, to come find him and seonghwa. the silver haired boy had nodded in understanding, before rushing to join his fiance and the rest of their rag tag group at the door. yeosang felt a strange emptiness that flooded his chest and seemed to permeate the room around him as the door clicked shut behind the others, and he turned to find seonghwa staring at him. 

“what is it?” he murmured, pushing past the blond to take a seat on the couch, where it was still warm from yunho and mingi’s body heat. part of yeosang wanted to go pull the four back, but he knew that that was risky. they only had enough for two of them, and not near enough to sustain six people until they found somewhere better to camp out. that was the part that it seemed seonghwa could read, sitting next to him and reassuring him that it would be all right, that the group would be fine. 

seonghwa somehow coaxed him to get back in bed and catch up on the sleep that he missed. seonghwa himself didn’t join him, instead sprawling out over the floor and leafing through one of yeosang’s textbooks from his college courses. yeosang slipped into an easy sleep, knowing that seonghwa was capable of protecting the two of them if need be. 

they fell into a routine like that, sleeping next to one another at night and sharing a can of food at mealtimes, not even bothering to heat anything up. they made runs together, filling their backpacks up with as much as they could carry to bring home. steadily, their stock of food and medicine piled up, covering the cabinets in the kitchen and spilling out into the dining room, where they also stored their two emergency bags, filled with things they would need if they had to run. 

a week flew by, as they listened to the radio nightly for progress on the situation outside. yeosang’s building had stayed eerily quiet, and they assumed that the other tenants had fled at the first sight of danger. it wouldn’t surprise yeosang, and certainly not seonghwa, who said it would make sense. they planned on where they would go, to seonghwa’s grandparents house in the mountains. he said that that would be safer for them, and that his grandparents had passed away long ago and left the house to him. yeosang agreed enthusiastically, but his mood quickly dropped as he looked around at their supplies. “but how will we move all this?” he asked one night, as they laid in bed with seonghwa’s arms around yeosang, where the younger was resting against his chest. 

seonghwa just reassured him that they’d find a way, before yeosang nodded and drifted off to sleep. seonghwa waited for a little while, waiting for yeosang to be in a deep enough sleep that he wouldn’t feel seonghwa untangling their limbs and climbing from the bed. “i’ll be back in the morning.” seonghwa uttered this promise to deaf ears, watching as yeosang felt around the bed for something to hold onto, which seonghwa granted in the form of a pillow. 

yeosang slept on peacefully, not knowing of the disaster he would be waking to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so!! i said that this chapter would be around the same length as the other one, but i actually decided to split it up so that i can get part of it posted, since it's been a little bit?? but i just wanna know y'alls opinions: would you rather wait longer for a longer chapter, or less of a wait for a shorter chapter?? please let me know!!


	3. fall in love during the apocalypse, they said. it'll be fun, they said

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a quick heads up that there's ~slightly suggestive~ content near the end but i don't think it's anything super important so?? yeah enjoy!

once again, just like the day a short week before, yeosang awoke to the sound of banging and yelling at the door. he could faintly hear his name, but the only thing that mattered in that moment was the absence of seonghwa. the other was nowhere to be found, and yeosang couldn’t even hear him clattering around in the kitchen. the pounding grew more frantic, and yeosang was quick to arm himself as he crept to the door, peering out the peekhole and feeling a sense of deja vu as he looked at the people outside his door. when his eyes caught sight of the familiar platinum blond hair he was used to waking up next to, he gasped and wrenched the door open. yunho was immediately pushing past him with seonghwa in his arms, the latter groaning as he clutched at his stomach. mingi was quick to follow, and then in rushed four more people. yeosang quickly recognized wooyoung and san, but ignored the two newcomers in favor of rummaging through the bathroom cabinet for the first aid supplies. when he emerged, yunho had made quick work of seonghwa’s shirt and left the other bare chested on the couch, letting yeosang kneel down next to him and peel his hands away from his stomach. a decent sized gash curved over his belly button, steadily dribbling blood down his sides. “get a towel, quick, from that closet!” yeosang vaguely gestured in the direction of the closet in question, watching for wooyoung to return with a towel so he could begin applying pressure and hope that the wound would stop bleeding so heavily. 

he quickly soaked through that towel and requested another one, that wooyoung quickly tossed at him, seeming to have been prepared. about halfway through the second, the flow seemed to slow down slightly, and yeosang pulled the towel away to take a look at the wound. it wasn’t deep enough to warrant major concern, but he would have to stitch it up. 

thank the government for his one semester of nursing school, where the first thing they learned was how to stitch someone up. 

as he rummaged through the first aid kit, he pulled out the supplies that he would need and urged any of the weak stomached people to leave the room as he worked. nearly half the group moved to the kitchen, leaving him alone with wooyoung, who kneeled next to him. “what do you need?” he asked quietly, almost afraid to disturb yeosang’s concentration. yeosang murmured for him to slip on a pair of gloves so he’d be able to hold seonghwa’s gash together, after it was sanitized. seonghwa hissed as yeosang made quick work of disinfecting the wound, before it was like the world faded and yeosang was brought into a mode where nothing could bother him. he knew seonghwa was wincing at every pierce of the needle, whining in pain but doing his best to hold still. 

he couldn’t hear it, though, his brain set on the task at hand. 

wooyoung played his part well, making it easier for yeosang to stitch up the wound and cover it with a thin layer of a cream that was supposed to help seonghwa heal faster, then wrapping him in bandages. when yeosang had covered seonghwa up with one of his own shirts (seonghwa swears on everything he didn’t blush at the thought of wearing yeosang’s clothes), he called the others out and wooyoung was the one to introduce the newcomers as yeosang was fetching ibuprofen for seonghwa. the shorter of the two with the angular face and long hair was hongjoong, and the taller with the plumper face was jongho, who was his student. yeosang greeted them politely, before informing them that they had no room for anyone else. hongjoong and jongho both smiled in response, responding that the other two couples had already informed them of that, and that they would be moving on as soon as possible. 

however, with a glance at seonghwa, yeosang couldn’t find it in himself to kick them out now, and force them to find somewhere else to stay. “there’s an apartment next door that’s been empty for years, and the landlord - for whatever reason - let me have the key, so maybe the eight of us can split up into two groups and we all stay in this building?” he suggested, watching as the six of them began to talk amongst themselves. he and seonghwa exchanged looks, the blond grinning slightly at him in response to the suggestion. “we can do like, shifts for runs and stuff so that we never leave the apartments fully unprotected.” he added quickly, his head already churning at the thoughts that began to gather. there was a collective noise of assent as they finally came to a decision. yeosang beamed for the first time in what seemed to be a lifetime, scurrying off to his bedroom to find the key. 

it wasn’t long before yunho, mingi, hongjoong, and jongho were getting settled into the other apartment. it was furnished very sparsely, only a bed and a couch filling the space, so they decided that yeosang’s apartment would be the meeting area for meals. they had also moved seonghwa into yeosang’s bedroom, so that wooyoung and san could take the couch - which they discovered folded out into a bed, something that yeosang himself didn’t even know. yeosang stocked the other apartment with blankets and emergency supplies, before walking five feet down the hall and re-entering his own apartment. a comfortable silence greeted him, until the yell of “uno!” broke the quiet. yeosang ventured into the living room to find it empty, and the noise seemed to be radiating from his bedroom. 

it wasn't long before the four were gathered on the bed, shouting when someone cheated. time passed quickly, and soon enough dinner had come and gone, leaving yeosang to feed seonghwa so he didn't disturb his new stitches. they were silent for the most part, until yeosang accidentally slid the spoon across seonghwa lip and left a streak of sauce there. he wiped it off absentmindedly with his thumb before sucking it off without thinking about it. when he looked up, seonghwa was looking at him with a strange expression, that yeosang quickly ignored in favor of finishing feeding seonghwa his portion. when he was done and had tossed the can, he came back to join seonghwa in bed, stepping around the folded out couch and trying not to disturb san and wooyoung. seonghwa was dozing idly against the wall when yeosang closed the door, and soon enough the two of them were laying face to face. well, seonghwa was laying on his side with his face to yeosang, but it was the thought that counts. 

yeosang noticed a little bit of sauce that had gathered in the corner of seonghwa lips, wiping his thumb across seonghwa lips without a second thought. 

that is, until seonghwa’s lips parted and yeosang's finger dipped inside, where seonghwa suckled on the tip of his finger gently, using his tongue to clean the pad of yeosang’s finger. when he released it, he sent the younger a look that made all the heat in his body rush south, and suddenly he was as close as possible with his lips locked with seonghwa’s. 

they were like that for a bit, passing heated kisses like it would be the last chance they ever had. 

and as seonghwa explained why he had been gone that morning, yeosang realized that he was lucky to have this one chance. 

he had noticed they didn't have something specific, so he had gone out on a quick run to find it for them, so yeosang wouldn't worry. (“and what’s so important that you almost died for it?” “....i don't even remember”) he was attacked by a raider, and was hit once before san, wooyoung, mingi, and yunho found him. on the way home, mingi had spotted two people surrounded by a horde of the undead, and took san to free them. those two were hongjoong and jongho, and they were lucky that they were in the right place at the right time, or else they'd be dead. 

yeosang had scolded him properly for sneaking out, but pressed a soft kiss to his lips. 

“I'm just glad you came home.” he whispered as they drifted off to sleep, their fingers intertwined between them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a quick note that this chapter kinda shows what?? woosan and also yungi were up to while being apart from seongsang?? next chapter will be our regularly scheduled seongsang tho!! and the one after that will be yungi's backstory ;)

san and wooyoung had been laying in bed in the bedroom of their shared apartment when the sirens rang out, the noise easily penetrating the walls and letting them know that something was wrong. san reached blindly to the side, groping around on the nightstand for a phone and saw that it was already lit up with a national emergency alert. as his eyes scanned over the warning, wooyoung groggily asked what it was for, since they were almost asleep when it started. 

san informed him of the situation, assuring wooyoung that they were safe where they were. of course, his fiance placed full trust in him and they laid there in silence for a few hours, listening to the quiet underneath the sirens with san's phone playing music all the while to attempt to cover it up. san swore that he heard a crash from next door, but paid it no mind. the couple next to them had a swarm of kids who were almost always making noise, so he let it go. however, when the crashing turned to a thundering noise he sat upright abruptly, throwing wooyoung’s head off his chest in the process before pulling the two of them to their closet to grab a jacket each to throw on top of their pajamas, and then shoving the shorter male into the kitchen to grab a knife while he went to peek out into the hallway. when wooyoung joined him at the front door, they heard slamming in the apartment next to them but saw that the door was closed and there was no one in the hallway, so they made a run for it, san holding desperately to wooyoung’s hand. 

neither of them quite knew how they accomplished it, making it past a horde of undead that swarmed the entrance of the stairwell, but they pushed their way through without a single problem and burst out onto the street just outside their building. wooyoung took the lead, then, pulling san to a supermarket nearby that he knew was still open. “we’re gonna have to camp out somewhere else, until it’s safe to go home.” he had panted, pulling his hand from san’s to wipe the sweat on his pants. they heard the groan of one of the undead behind them, and san lunged forward to take a hold of wooyoung’s hand once more so he wouldn’t lose him when they ran. 

however, they were confused to see the undead simply walk past them, not even seeming to acknowledge the two once san had a grip on the other. they glanced at each other, and san experimentally let go of wooyoung’s hand. the undead refocused on them, but lost interest as soon as san grabbed wooyoung once more. “that could come in handy.” san chirped wittily, making wooyoung groan at his horrible pun. they walked calmly to the supermarket a block or so away from their building, san wielding the knife in one hand and wooyoung’s hand clutched in the other. the market was silent when they walked in, separating momentarily so wooyoung could head to the other side of the entrance to grab a hand basket. they had already discussed what they needed to get, light things that would be easy to carry until they could find a backpack or something to carry it all in. they didn't think of the fact that perhaps there would be people already in the market, and froze when they came face to face with two boys who stood back to back, wooyoung nearly shrieking with surprise, until san pressed his hand over wooyoung’s mouth and soothed him quietly. in this time, the blonde boy facing them tapped the other, who turned to face them as well, and it was a silent stand off for a moment until san’s hand fell away from wooyoung’s mouth. “we’re not here to hurt you or raid you, we’re just trying to stock up before everyone else does. we can’t get back into our apartment, our building is surrounded in the undead and they’re walking the hallways, too, so this is our only shot.” he could feel wooyoung trembling, and tried to steady him by grasping his hand and squeezing, trying to reassure the other. the blonde one blurted out that they could follow them to the mauve haired boys apartment, and figure it out in the morning. san and wooyoung exchanged glances, while the mauve haired boy sputtered indignantly, yanking the blonde boy to the end of the aisle and out of sight. 

wooyoung and san looked at each other once more, shrugging, while san muttered “what could go wrong?”, to which wooyoung replied with a steely look and a quiet murmur of “everything.” they heard the sound of quiet laughter before the two boys came back into sight, wooyoung and san watching them quietly, with nervousness clear in their demeanors. 

the two introduced themselves, mauve boy being yeosang and blond being seonghwa. “if you get a cart and help us stock up, you can come home with us.” was all that yeosang said, before san rushed off to get a cart. wooyoung stayed behind, conversing quietly with seonghwa and yeosang and telling them about their situation, but deciding to keep quiet about san’s mysterious ability that may be able to keep them safe. the fiances followed behind the two strangers to their apartment, dodging the undead that seemed to pop up out of nowhere until they finally made it to a safe place. 

\--

wooyoung left the apartment with yeosang’s words still ringing in his ears as san discussed with mingi and yunho where they would be going. it didn’t take long for the group to decide to try and go back to mingi and yunho’s apartment, hoping that the raiders would be long gone and they could collect some supplies. the group decided as one that they would stake out yunho and mingi’s apartment building for a few hours, and then try to get to the two’s apartment in one piece. “we have some supplies in there, we just couldn’t get them all in time.” yunho had claimed, mingi nodding along in agreement. 

and so, after finding a comfortably dark alley with a lower amount of bugs and rodents than the others, they waited. san had sat down with his back against the brick wall of the building behind him, stretching his legs out in front of him. wooyoung threw himself next to san, while yunho and mingi sat cross legged next to each other on the other side of the alleyway. the four watched in turns, san keeping an eye on his not yet dead watch. after three or four hours had passed with no signs of the raiders, they finally decided to go in. mingi dug out his key, and the roommates led the fiances up to their apartment. the sight that greeted them was not pretty. 

much of their furniture was overturned, blood trails covered the floor and splattered onto the walls. mingi couldn't atop the shiver that ran up his spine at the sight, and soon felt a comforting warmth on the back of his neck. yunho's fingers found purchase in his hair, rubbing soothingly over the spot to try and calm the other down. yunho took the lead and ventured further in, stance tense and ready to protect himself if needed. mingi was next, then wooyoung and san. the rest of the space was no better - the picture frames that once hung on the walls and held pictures of their families had made the floor their new home, broken glass crunching under their feet with every step. mingi grimaced at the sight of a picture once showing him and his mother being torn in half, his mother's glowing smile disappearing, probably into the pocket of a raider. he forced himself to move on, venturing into the dining room while yunho headed to his bedroom. san went to the next bedroom, leaving wooyoung to stand guard over them all. 

yunho emerged from his room with a bag slung over his shoulder with extra clothing, moving onto mingi’s room next. he found san standing in the center of it, feet planted firmly in front of the overturned mattress. their eyes both caught on the same thing - a smaller body that was occupying the space under the window. the figure had their head caught between their knees, silver hair sticking up in unruly tufts. yunho poked the figure with the end of a baseball bat that he acquired out of nowhere, it seemed, and they moaned lowly in response. it took a second, but the figure raised their head up, the first thing catching their attention was a sharp pair of eyes. as the figure slowly unraveled, they realized that he couldn’t be more than a few years older than them. 

when the person on the floor made eye contact with the two towering over him, he scrambled to get to his feet, slurring out apologies and pleas for his life. san was the one to throw his hands out, trying to placate the other. it took a minute before the other person calmed down and his eyes finally focused on yunho and san, and another few for him to explain why exactly he was in an apartment that wasn't his. 

he lived in the same building, just a few floors above where they were now. he and his partner had been trying to get up the fire escape to their own dwelling, but had to duck into yunho’s apartment because they thought they heard a raider somewhere above them. his partner - hanbin, he told them, was his name - had left him alone in the apartment, saying that since it was trashed already they (the raiders) probably wouldn’t come back and so he would head up to their apartment by himself. the person in front of them, who soon told them his name was jinhwan, had been there by himself for less then a day. he hadn’t heard from hanbin, but was certain that he was still alive. he hoped that he was still alive. 

yunho was the one who finally offered a hand, pulling the shorter male to his feet and leading him back to the living room. when he caught san’s eye, he mouthed for the boy to start gathering some of mingi’s things into a bag. san nodded in agreement, watching as yunho led the other from the room. it didn’t take long for mingi to volunteer to walk jinhwan up to his apartment, to check and see if hanbin was indeed there. the two left, mingi leaving with a promise that he would come back unharmed to yunho. then, the questioning started. “so, how long have you guys been together?” wooyoung threw at him from his spot in front of the door. yunho just stared at him blankly, leaving wooyoung to continue. “you know, uh? being a couple? boyfriends? fiances, maybe? or even husbands? partners?” he exaggerated every title with a wave of his hand, and yunho’s cheeks flushed a deep color as he waved his hands, shaking his head at the same time as though trying to dispel the thought. 

“we’re not together, we’ve been friends since we were little and we ended up moving in here together because the rent would be cheaper and maybe i had slight feelings for him but he’s never felt the same.” yunho stuttered out, his voice softening at the end of his thought. wooyoung looked at him thoughtfully, as san emerged from the bedroom with a rucksack full of mingi’s clothes. wooyoung quickly explained where mingi had gone, finishing up just as mingi himself walked back in the door. fresh blood was sprayed across the side of his face, and a dark patch had made its appearance on his arm. before he could explain the stains origins, yunho was rushing forward and wrenching his sleeve up, checking to make sure there wasn’t a hole accompanying it. he breathed out a sigh of relief at the sight of no such thing, but still found himself questioning if mingi was okay. the younger reassured him time and time again that it wasn’t his blood, that they had run into one of the undead in the stairwell. 

yunho wouldn’t forget the knowing look he got from wooyoung later, when he stuck closer to mingi than normal. 

he also wouldn’t forget seeing seonghwa’s body fall to the ground, blood pooling where he had been struck. 

he wouldn’t forget the fear on hongjoong and jongho’s faces as the undead moved closer to him. 

he really wouldn’t forget a lot of things.

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by skz_jpeg's "kenopsia", which is a skz zombie au and it's so so so good, i 100% recommend it!! 
> 
> feel free to yell at me on [tumblr](https://hellevator-mp3.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/wave_mp3)!


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